An arbiter for arbitrating between a plurality of requests from a plurality of requesters, said arbiter being arranged to assign an order of priority of said requesters, the requester having the highest priority and which has made a request winning the arbitration, wherein the arbiter determines a new priority for said winning requester, said winner being given a priority different from the lowest priority.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. An arbiter for arbitrating between a plurality of requests from a plurality of requesters, said arbiter being arranged to assign an order of priority of said requesters, said arbiter being arranged to assign a relegation value to each of said requesters; wherein the requester having the highest priority and which has made a request winning the arbitration; wherein the relegation value and priority of the winner are added in an adder producing an index determining the priority of a winner of said arbitration after the winner has won an arbitration, said winner being given a priority different from the lowest priority.
2. An arbiter as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the relegation value can be changed during use of said arbiter.
3. An arbiter as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said arbiter has a list of requesters, the list defining the priority of said requesters, wherein said list is arranged to include at least one requester in at least two different positions in said list.
4. An arbiter as claimed in claim 3 , wherein said list is longer than the number of requesters.
5. An arbiter as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the arbiter is arranged to clip an output of said adder.
6. An arbiter for arbitrating between a plurality requests from a plurality of requesters, said arbiter being arranged to assign an order of priority to said requesters and relegation values to each of said requesters, wherein the relegation value and priority of the winner are added in an adder producing an index which determines the priority of a winner of said arbitration after the winner has won an arbitration.
7. An arbiter as claimed in claim 6 , wherein the arbiter is arranged to clip an output of said adder.
8. An arbiter for arbitrating between a plurality of requests from a plurality of requesters, said arbiter having a list of requesters, at least some of said requesters making requests, the list defining the priority of said requesters, wherein said list is arranged to include at least one requester in at least two different positions in said list; wherein the winner of the arbitration performed by said arbiter is at the end of the list for the next arbitration.
9. An arbiter for arbitrating between a plurality of requests from a plurality of requesters, said arbiter assigning a priority and relegation value to each of said requesters, the priority assigned to each requester determining the frequency with which each requester wins an arbitration; wherein said arbiter is configurable to provide to the required priority for each requester and wherein the relegation value and priority of the winner are added in an adder producing an index determining the priority of a winner of said arbitration after the winner has won an arbitration.
10. An arbiter as claimed in claim 9 , wherein said arbiter is configured prior to use.
11. An arbiter as claimed in claim 9 , wherein said the configuration of said arbiter is alterable during use.
12. An arbiter as claimed in claim 1 for arbitrating between requests from requesters requesting access to a memory.
13. An arbiter as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said requester comprises a device.
14. An arbiter as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said requester comprises a channel.
15. An arbiter as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said arbiter is arranged to consider only some of the requesters when arbitrating between said requesters, said considered requesters having the highest priority.
16. An arbiter as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the arbiter is arranged to clip an output of said adder.
17. An integrated circuit comprising an arbiter for arbitrating between a plurality of requests from a plurality of requesters, said arbiter being arranged to assign an order of priority of said requesters, said arbiter being arranged to assign a relegation value to each of said requesters; wherein the requester having the highest priority and which has made a request wins the arbitration, and wherein the relegation value and priority of the winner are added in an adder producing an index determining the priority of a winner of said arbitration after the winner has won an arbitration, said winner being given a priority different from the lowest priority.
18. An integrated circuit comprising an arbiter for arbitrating between a requests from a plurality of requesters, said arbiter being arranged to assign an order of priority to said requesters and relegation information to each of said requesters, and wherein the relegation value and priority of the winner are added in an adder producing an index determining the priority of a winner of said arbitration after the winner has won an arbitration.
19. An integrated circuit comprising an arbiter for arbitrating between a plurality of requests from a plurality of requesters, said arbiter having a list of requesters, at least some of said requesters making requests, the list defining the priority of said requesters, wherein said list is arranged to include at least one requester in at least two different positions in said list, and wherein the winner of the arbitration performed by said arbiter is at the end of the list for the next arbitration.
20. An integrated circuit comprising an arbiter for arbitrating between a plurality of requests from a plurality of requesters, said arbiter assigning a priority and relegation value to each of said requesters, the priority assigned to each requester determining the frequency with which each requester wins an arbitration, wherein said arbiter is configurable to provide to the required priority for each requester, and wherein the relegation value and priority of the winner are added producing an index determining the priority of a winner of said arbitration after the winner has won an arbitration.
21. A method of arbitrating between a plurality of requests from a plurality of requesters, said method comprising: assigning an order of priority to the requesters; assigning a relegation value to each of said requesters; determining which requester has the highest priority and which has made a request, said requester winning the arbitration; and determining a new priority for the winning requester, the new priority being determined by an index produced by adding the relegation value and the priority of the winner and being different from the lowest priority.
22. The method of arbitrating as claimed in claim 21 , further comprising the step of clipping the output of the adding of the relegation value and the priority of the winner.
Cooperative Patent Classification codes for this invention. Click any code to explore related patents in that topic.
August 11, 2000
September 9, 2003
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